Moving mountains with shovels

The Lolland dike is the longest coastal defence project in the history of Denmark. It protects the South Lolland from Nakskov Fiord and 63 kilometres to the east. After the worst flooding that century, on 13 November 1872, one third of Lolland was left under water and …

The Lolland dike is the longest coastal defence project in the history of Denmark. It protects the South Lolland from Nakskov Fiord and 63 kilometres to the east. After the worst flooding that century, on 13 November 1872, one third of Lolland was left under water and the State issued a tender for a dike on Lolland. Between 1874 and 1877, 600 workmen moved 1.73 million cubic metres of soil using nothing more than shovels and wheelbarrows. The soil was built up to form a giant dike and its exterior was reinforced with fieldstone boulders. Twenty-seven sluices were also built. The largest sluice near Kramnitze receives water from 19,870 hectares or a good sixth of the whole of Lolland. The dike has secured the development of farming since the great flood.